Team Teal Tuesday ~ and Project Life

I fussed over my 2012 Project Life and found myself in constant ridicule of myself. There wasn't enough journaling, next-to-no-embellishments, didn't have a week-to-week consistency... Instead, it was a whole bunch of photos of a whole bunch of family time ~ spent together as a result of my mom's battle with ovarian cancer.

That's not to say that it isn't sprinkled with our life around our home and some road trips we've been on. It's just a random collection, and one that I figured would be cool to look back on. Someday.

And then my nieces came over.

♥

When I caught a glimpse of my nieces through the atrium window,*

hunched over my Project Life and soaking up the memories,

time stood still for a moment.

They were taking it all in. My trips to California to be with my mom {their grandmother}, the 4th of July, a 92nd birthday, a 4th birthday, a first communion, a funeral, a wedding, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. A book filled with photos of the people they love, and photos of themselves here and there ~ smiling faces of the people we connect with in this project called life.

In that moment when I saw my nieces through the window,

I had no doubt that my 2012 Project Life was exactly how it was

meant to be. And I love that I didn't have to wait 20 years to know

it was worth the effort to preserve some of those memories.

♥

* Right. So. I realize that taking these photos of my nieces through

the window of my craft room borders on creeper. Our house has an atrium

in the center, so it's a bit of a fish-bowl-existence sometimes.

Anyway! How could I resist? All things considered.

Project Life: To Kit or Not to Kit

♥

Carrie and I went round and round last year on the subject of ordering a kit to use with Project Life. I argued that she didn’t need a kit – she could just make her own inserts. She did just that for 2012, but this year she ordered a kit. Eh-hm. And so did I.

It is fun to have coordinating inserts for Project Life, and I realize that particular element does help to unify a weekly spread. So, well..I’ll just say it: Carrie was right. {ouch}

But! Even though I’m glad I ordered the kit, I wasn’t real crazy about all of the papers that were included in the one I chose. I particularly liked the journaling cards, but didn’t care for some of the patterned/colored paper sheets. So, I made a few of my own.

Now, before you go thinking that I’m all “miss high and mighty” {"Anonymous" commenter!}, I’m going to tell you that while I think that Project Life is a great way to scrapbook and I do think everyone should scrapbook in some form or another, that doesn’t mean that you have to have some fancy-schmancy inserts or someone else's kit for that matter. Plain and simple would do the trick just as well.

And these were pretty simple to put together:

{A paper trimmer, a few paper punches and a corner rounder, and glue dots. The end.}

And I realize this is really early in the year to be making a decision about next year’s Project Life {2014 – yikes!}, but I’m thinking I will completely make my own “kit” next year using some patterned paper I like, along with some solid {textured} cardstock for shapes and embellishments. I think it would be a fairly easy project. Hm...but that could prove to be fairly time consuming...

We’ll see how much time I have on my hands come December…

{wink}

PS: Here's a link to a great article for anyone who is curious about the basics of Project Life: Project Life Newbies

Anyone can scrapbook, and everybody should.

When it comes to Project Life, each of us fits into one of the following categories:

1 - You don’t do Project Life and are sick of seeing blog posts about it.

2 - You do Project Life, you love it, and you are hooked.

3 - You’re thinking, “What the heck is Project Life?”

I’ve been through a few scrapbook phases in my life; from the early days of ticket stubs, school photos of friends, and random bits [barely] adhered to pages with a simple glue stick, to a more elaborate form of scrapbooking with more-embellishments-than-photo-fare permanently attached to fancy cardstock and patterned paper.

No matter what format you choose, keeping a book with some photos and tidbits about life as it is right now {aka: a scrapbook} is important. It’s personally important so you can look back and see how far you’ve come in this life, or where you still need to go. And it’s important to your friends and family because some day, whether you like it or not, someone will want to know about your life. They’ll want to know how you lived it, who or what you loved in it, and how you spent your days.

The idea of page protectors with little sections to slip bits of paper and photos into just appeals to me. I can’t think of a simpler, more workable format for saving photos and memorabilia - and in the end, calling it a scrapbook. Lots of people call this Project Life {the simple, yet ingenious brain child of Becky Higgins}.

Carrie got me started on Project Life last May, and in the beginning I resisted. I didn’t want to do the traditional weekly spreads – didn’t want to conform. I ended up just printing lots of photos, saving a few odds and ends to include, and the result is that I have a nice collection of some of my favorite photos for the second half of 2012. I like it, it’s a cool collection of photos in chronological order, but it’s not the way I want my 2013 book to be.

This year I’m committing to Project Life in its traditional format with weekly spreads. I even bought a kit complete with journaling cards, all in a cohesive color scheme, and I’m taking daily notes in my hard-copy calendar/journal. Sometimes I’ll share my pages here on my blog, but for the most part I’ll probably keep it to myself.

You don’t need the actual “Project Life” page protectors to do this project! There are plenty of other brands, sizes, and shapes of page protectors and three-ring binders {sold at Target, Michael’s, OfficeMax…}. There’s no right or wrong way to make a personal scrapbook. Our scrapbooks should be as unique as we are.

So, go ahead - start documenting your life!
Somehow, just document it.
Because anyone can scrapbook,
and everybody should.
♥

Team Teal Tuesday - The Plan

Hey there, blog friends ~

When my mom {Marti} was still on the planet and fighting against ovarian cancer, I occasionally posted stuff about her on Tuesdays and I called it "Team Teal Tuesday." Now that she's gone, I thought I would continue this bit here on my blog, in honor of my mom and also in an effort to bring awareness to ovarian cancer.

{Project Life pages ~ our walk for ovarian cancer awareness}

I originally chose Tuesday because it was the day Mom always received chemotherapy - every three weeks - and because I thought "Team Teal Tuesday" had a catchy tone. Ironically, my mom died on a Tuesday, so there you have it. {Three weeks ago today, but who's counting...}

The past few weeks have been rough. I've been super sad, and I've hated seeing people I love being super sad. It's a very helpless feeling when you know exactly what a sibling is feeling and there's no way to change it for them. I realize now that one of the reasons my mom did not want to go was because she knew we would be heartbroken.

Oh sure, people will say she'll always be with me, that I'll always have her in my heart, I'll always have those memories, and I know all of that to be true - that's lovely. But the logical part of my brain is screaming, "I WANT MY MOM!!!" and that's just not possible anymore.

So, once in a while, on a Tuesday, I'm going to tell a story about my mom, or share a photo, or just give you a not-so-gentle nudge to pay attention to your body and ask all the right questions.

If my mom and I can save one woman from going through what she endured, all of this will be worth something.

♥

Right now I have...

...this project called life.

♥

...an amazing husband to see me through.
...money in the bank, food in my kitchen, a bed to sleep in, and a car that runs.
...ridiculous pets that love, entertain, and sometimes annoy me.
...the good fortune to work with some brilliant, kind, down-to-earth people.

...finally seen an eye doctor and got prescription strength glasses and contact lenses. {Carrie has been after me for the longest time on this one!}
...a daughter who cares about me and likes me enough to call me Mom-friend.
...a bunch of craft projects bouncing around in my head.
...a strong belief that good things are in store.
...some of the sweetest friends on the planet {and you know who you are. Yes, you!}

...a feeling that I will never be the same.

...a mom with cancer.

...the strength, courage, and wisdom to handle it all.

♥

Quick Weekend Recap

 It's a quick weekend recap this week, my friends, with only a few photos to share today...

I was sick on Saturday so nothing got done except for a little bit of Project Life off and on - with the "help" of my furry friend.

And I'm sharing this photo so you can see that not everyone is photogenic all the time. Rexy looks really irritated in this photo, don't you think?

This is kind of random, but a work friend gave me a fig from her own tree and when I cut it in half I was surprised at how pretty it was inside...had to take a photo of that!

I felt better yesterday and actually got caught up on Project Life. I'm back and forth on how much of this project to share on my blog, though I do enjoy posting a glimpse here and there on Instagram. {You can follow me if you like - I'm "PaperTurtle."}

And that's it for me this morning.

I told you it would be quick. ;o)

This week on my blog: I have some cool sunflower photos to show you tomorrow, and I'll also be sharing photos of the gift I made my sister for her 50th birthday later in the week too.

This week in my life: Last night I was stressing about the weekend being over {mostly because I lost a full day being sick} when a post came through on the Facebook feed from "The Sunshine Page." It reminded me that Monday signifies a whole new 7 days to do something worthwhile - put me right in my place.

This week for Team Teal: Lots of prayers, thoughts, virtual hugs going to my mom for strength to get through these grueling chemo treatments. ♥

Just because everyone else is doing it doesn't mean...

Here's the thing about me: I shy away from "everybody's doing it" type of things. Call it a bit rebellious...ugh...or maybe I'm a snob about stuff like that. I don't know. However I look at it, that little quirk of mine has held me back from jumping on the Project Life bandwagon for several years now.

In the three-plus years since I've been blogging I've seen my share of Project Life posts. I have always been struck by my blog friends who love this project, and their dedication to keeping up with it is nothing short of admirable. I was actually a little surprised when my own daughter insisted on purchasing the starter kit, and even more surprised that she continues to stick with the project after a few months now {sorry, Carrie, but you know what I mean...}.

Carrie's excitement over Project Life has been contagious. She managed to convince me that what I really wanted for my birthday was a Project Life binder and some pages to fill. "Ok, ok," I thought. "I'll give it a go."

Friends.

I love it!

I already have a few pages filled - still need to take some time for journaling - but I can already tell that this will be an ongoing project that I will continue to love as time goes by. It's kind of like coming home to scrapbooking again, in the most basic form. It's the pictures-and-notes-and-ticket-stubs kind of scrapbooking - an old fashion, basic, and awesome approach to documenting your days.

Look out. I'm on the bandwagon.

♥